1 Thessalonians 4 v 9 But as touching brotherly love ye need
not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to
love one another. 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren
which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye
increase more and more;

3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that
ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you
should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and
honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles
which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his
brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of
all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8 He
therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath
also given unto us his holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul had felt a great need to write to the
Christians at Thessalonica about their moral behaviour. In verse
3 – 8 of 1 Thessalonians 4 he had carefully spoken to them
about issues of sexuality and relationships. It was vital that
these issues were dealt with specifically because of the society
in which the Thessalonians lived and the context of that society
from which they had been saved. As Christians they had been
called out of the immoral and promiscuous community of their day
to be formed into a separated group of believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ seeking to be holy like Him. They faced virtually
the same pressures and temptations that we do today. We do not
have temple harlots linking promiscuity with religion in exactly
the same way that they did. But there are the new religions of TV
soaps and beyond the watershed 9pm programmes to entice the
unwary to sin; the religious adherence of some to the internet
and some of the things that it has to offer, if men particularly
know where to look; then there are the magazines and other
literature peddling their lurid images designed to appeal to the
lower natures of both men and women. With the reduction in the
level of shame in this society today then it is possible for
Christians to easily be sucked in to such things. Paul’s
words then, to those who knew what was sin; who knew what it was
to be forgiven; who knew that Christ had died for them –
those believers in Thessalonica – are words for us today.
They are a warning! They are an admonishment! They are to
challenge us both in public and in private to be chaste –
to be pure and to be holy like our perfect saviour the Lord Jesus
Christ.

We need to develop strategies that will guard our minds,
hearts and bodies from these sins. We are not immune – we
are vulnerable. We need God’s word to set a watch on our
lives. The godly man in the Old Testament, Job said this
–

Job 31 v 1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should
I think upon a maid?

This is God’s word for us all in these dangerous days.
May we be warned by all of God’s word – that we
cannot play with sin – we cannot flirt with the world
– there are consequences for our behaviour – whether
in public or in the secrecy of our own homes – The Lord God
says

Galatians 6 v 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man (or woman, old or young) soweth, that shall he
also reap.

May God’s grace be ours as we wrestle with the world,
the flesh and the devil – and may we know victory as we
strive to be like our saviour – to be sanctified.

In the next section of this letter, in the next two verses of
the chapter Paul turns from CHASTITY to CHARITY. He turns from
the lure of sin to the love of saints. He had used 6 verses to
address immorality because of the great need of the day. Perhaps
Timothy had reported back that the pressure that the believers
were under in the immoral and unchaste atmosphere of Thessalonica
prompted the warnings. The discussion of sexual purity had an
urgency about it which does seem to suggest problems facing the
church in this area.

But now in the case of brotherly love within the fellowship of
believers Paul’s comments are different – they are
almost congratulatory! He immediately makes this statement
–

9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write
unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another.

It is

3. A Call to Brotherly Love.

He only uses 2 verses in this section – verses 9 –
10. His reason was this – that the Christians in
Thessalonica were already good examples of the kind of mutual
love that should characterise ALL Christian believers. They were
not lacking in love. What is more their love spilled over towards
other believers in the other churches of Macedonia – the
two that we know of were Philippi and Berea – but there may
have been others. Verse 10 tells us this –

And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all
Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more
and more;

This morning we will examine this love that the Thessalonian
Christians had with a view to examining ourselves – to see
if we come up to the standard set by these believers. If we find
ourselves to be coming short then it will also be a spur to us to
increase in love and to reach the same goal that Paul desired for
those in Thessalonica – that we may increase in love more
and more.

1. The Thessalonians had a love of the Brethren.

9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write
unto you:

There is a city in the USA called Philadelphia. It was founded
in the 17th Century as one of the colonies from
Europe. William Penn whose name also is given to the name of the
neighbouring State Pennsylvania, was instrumental in the
city’s early development. It appears that in the early days
several settlements joined together in harmony and true brotherly
love – hence the wonderful Greek word PHILADELPHIA being
chosen as the settlement’s name. Philadelphia is now a
large city of 1½ million people.

Philadelphia was also the name of a much earlier city that is
mentioned in the last book of the Bible. It was one of the seven
churches of Asia named after its Greek founder Philadephus.

The Greek word is a compound of 2 other words PHILOS which
means friend and in some circumstances a special friend –
such as the best man of the bridegroom at a wedding. The other
word is ADELPHOS meaning brother in the sense of a blood brother
– a true brother who shares the same mother and father.

In secular Greek the word almost always refers to blood
brothers and sisters only who ordinarily ought to have a degree
of love for each other!

But in the New Testament its use changes. It becomes a term
that indicates the love that Christians have for each other
– a family love that celebrates each member having the same
Father – the Lord God Himself. Indeed it should be natural
for those who by faith and grace have come to know and love God
as their father should love each other as brothers and sisters in
his family. Philadelphia then means BROTHERLY LOVE a fraternity
of faith.

It is helpful to look at some of the other New Testament texts
that use the word –

Romans 12 v 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with
brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Hebrews 13 v 1 Let brotherly love continue.

1 Peter 1 v 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

2 Peter 1 v 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and
abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament then people who had been converted,
become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, discovered a new love
in their lives – a new love for their new brothers and
sisters in the Lord – in His family. They had been adopted
by the Lord Jesus Christ into the family – and they had a
new set of relatives. This is similar to a child who is adopted
who suddenly finds that he has a host of new aunts and uncles,
and if there are already other children in the family, brothers
and sisters too.

However in a new adoptive family a quality of love amongst the
children does not happen automatically. It is a threatening thing
for a child to have new brothers and sisters. The child needs
help to learn how to love such people. And wise parents will
anticipate this and put strategies in place to ensure that the
child feels loved and that the child is given room and time to
respond with his or her own love.

We need to ask then, how does this happen in the Christian
family? Is it automatic? Does it have to be learned? Paul tells
us in the second half of verse 9 –

for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

As newly adopted children into the Father’s family we
have to learn to love – and He has undertaken to teach
us.

2. The Love of the brethren was a God-taught love.

The language in the original here says this –
THEODIDAKTOI – people who are taught by God. The Lord Jesus
Christ used the same words but turned them round in John 6 v
45

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all
taught of God.

DIDAKTOI THEOU

All down the ages since creation and the fall God has had to
teach people to love. One of the marks of the rebellion in the
garden was the spoiling of the ability to love others. Instead
man became a self loving person – selfish – self
centred – self orientated in everything. We should be
honest enough to admit that this is the bent of all of our souls
– me first – others second! It is our nature. So that
when we are given a new nature we need to be taught.

However this teaching has been going on from the earliest
times.

1. God the Father had taught His people to love – in
the Old Testament.

Several texts can show us this – beginning with the Law
of Moses –

Leviticus 19 v 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

As soon as God had adopted His people the Jews, by covenant,
He set about teaching them to love each other. Already He had
commanded them to love HIM – in the exposition of the 10
commandments. Is it not sad that the creatures of such a kind and
wise and loving creator should have to command men to love Him!
Such was their deficiency in the love department.

Deuteronomy 6 v 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might.

Deuteronomy 11 v 1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy
God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments,
and his commandments, alway.

Deuteronomy 19 v 9… thou shalt keep all these
commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love
the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways;

But then God had to constantly remind His people to love each
other. Shortly after the giving of the law in Exodus 20 we find
these words in Exodus 23 v 4

If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray,
thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

God promises that He would teach his people –

Isaiah 54 v 13 And all thy children shall be taught of the
LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

And

Jeremiah 31 v 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know
me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more.

By the time the Lord Jesus Christ came the Jewish people had
legalised the way that they loved certain people. They had taken
the scriptures which spoke of God’s furious anger with the
wicked and turned it into legitimate hatred for all non-Jews
– Gentiles. Then they had a kind of hierarchy of love in
the Jewish community – you should love your fellow Jew
– so long as he wasn’t a drunkard or tax collector
for the Romans – or a prostitute. Jesus came to correct
these bad un-loving attitudes. So God the Father had taught
originally His people that they should love Him and each
other.

2. God the Son had taught His people to love – during
His ministry in the New Testament.

We read in John 13 earlier these words –

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

This love is not Philadelphia but AGAPE. AGAPE is the word
that appears at the end of verse 9 –

for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another.

We discussed this a few weeks ago when we discovered that
AGAPE love does not depend on the nature of the relationship
between individual human beings. Rather it is a steady selfless
love, marked by a self giving attitude born out of a genuine
concern for others irrespective of who they are. This kind of
love is the same as God’s love for us –

Romans 5 v 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

It is also that kind of love that we are to show to those who
are our enemies –

Matthew 5 v 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

Some of Jesus’ disciples wanted to know the degree of
love that they should show in forgiveness. Peter asked in Matthew
18 v 21

The Lord Jesus Christ showed by His whole life how love was to
be demonstrated – and He taught His disciples and others
around the quality of brotherly love that should be shown. One is
reminded of the way that Jesus wept at Bethany at Lazarus’
grave and the conclusion that the observers of such weeping came
to –

John 11 v 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he
loved him!

Jesus taught by word and by deed.

3. God the Holy Spirit teaches us to love one another.

Since He has been in heaven having ascended He has sent His
Holy Spirit to do the work of teaching us how to love. Indeed
there is an indication of this first of all in verse 8 of this
4th chapter of 1 Thessalonians –

8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God,
who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ has sent is Spirit with precisely this
in mind – to teach the Thessalonians and us to love one
another. They had not just been taught ABOUT brotherly love
– God the Holy Spirit had actually taught them TO LOVE.
This was how Jeremiah’s prophecy came true that we read a
few moments ago –

Jeremiah 31 v 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Paul puts it like this in Romans 5 v 5

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
us.

Brotherly love is a fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians
5 v 22 – when the Lord God by His Holy Spirit takes up
residence in the heart then love is bred into us.

Since this is true from the scriptures then what can it say to
a fellowship of believers, any fellowship – where there is
no love? Could it be that this principle mark of God’s
grace being absent reveals that such believers are not believers
at all? 1 John 4 v 7 says –

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and
every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

My friends it really is a simple equation. Sinful human nature
cannot love, be patient, self-controlled, forgiving, or even
generous to those who are in need to any extent beyond that which
is in the person’s own interest to be those things. Sinners
can love somewhat – but there is a limit. Some sinners are
very patient – but only because it suits them to be so.

But when a man or woman becomes a Christian the Lord God
begins to teach that person to do these things through His Holy
Spirit. It becomes a proof that the selfish, self-centred person
that he or she was has indeed been transformed by grace. The
change can be dramatic in some cases!

John Paton was a missionary to cannibals in the South Seas. He
took the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to these warlike people.
There were constant wars between the different tribes but John
just loved them. Whenever threatened he would stand firm and tell
them of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for them. Many times he
was robbed and shot at but God preserved him to continue to show
love to them.

One day he was visiting a known murderer called Nasi a very
dangerous man. John felt sorry for him as he was ill and
friendless. He challenged him about his life and asked if he
would like his son to grow up into the same kind of man that he
was. “No I certainly would not,” replied Nasi.
“Then you must become a Christian – repent and
believe. Give up your heathen behaviour or your son will turn out
the same.”

A few days later John had to leave to go to Australia. Some of
the Aniwan Christians decided to try to help Nasi. They
befriended him and were kind to him, something that others would
not do. They prayed for him and helped him to recover from his
illness. They said “This is how the mission man helped us
when he first came here. He showed us how Christians behave like
Jesus.” At first Nasi was sullen – but after a few
weeks he broke down and cried and said this “If your Jesus
can make you and the other Christians treat me so well then I
will trust Him too. I want Him to change me too. I want a heart
like that of Jesus.”

There is the principle my friends. It was the Holy Spirit of
the Lord Jesus Christ who changed this man and placed love for
others in his heart. Philadelphia, brotherly love is a God taught
love and flows from a genuine experience of being born again from
above – becoming a real Christian. Is this your story my
friend? Have you been born again? Has your heart been changed
from a sinful stony heart to one of flesh that knows how to love
others? The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we might
be forgiven – but also so that our hearts may be opened to
receive His love and be transformed. This experience is the way
of repentance my friend – a way of surrender – turn
to Him today and begin a new life – a new path – a
path of service and love for the Lord Jesus.

3. The Love of the Brethren is an extensive love.

Verse 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which
are in all Macedonia:

This Philadelphia love of which Paul speaks here was not only
for the Christian church fellowship in Thessalonica – it
extended to other Christians as well – they loved the
brothers throughout all Macedonia. It was likely that they would
have welcomed many believers from the other cities when we
consider the strategic importance of Thessalonica. Merchants,
traders and farmers would come to this capital city of Macedonia
and the Christians amongst them would seek out hospitality from
their brothers and sisters in Christ. A warm spirit towards other
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ was shown by the church.

Are we that willing to show brotherly love to visiting
believers? We need to show that we love others. Brotherly love
speaks volumes. It was said of the Christians known to a man
named Tertullian in about 192 AD that “The heathen often
exclaimed in wonder “Behold how these Christians love one
another.”

Are people outside of the church able to say that of us my
friends – see how the fellowship at Whiddon Valley love one
another? And is that extended to outsiders themselves where they
can say, See how the believers in Whiddon Valley love us and care
about us and our souls’ welfare!” What a challenge
brotherly love is! It is a broad hearted love. But sadly in some
churches this spirit is not always apparent. Sometimes unresolved
individual tensions can provoke an atmosphere. Occasionally the
sheer individualism of our culture has taken its toll with the
creation of aloofness and suspicion, and a mealy mouthed attitude
towards others – where affection and warmth ought to reign.
Christian brotherly love must be a priority today. There is so
little genuine love in the world – there must be much
genuine Philadelphia and agape love within the church – if
it is going to grow and be of any use in the community where it
exists. May we all work on this dear brothers and sisters.
Finally

4. The Love of the Brethren is an increasing love.

but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more;

I wonder, are we a little taken aback by Paul here? In one
breath he has praised the believers for loving one another
– but with the next he urges them to do so more and more!
It seems to be a fact that the further we get down the Christian
pathway – there will still be more to be done. This is no
less true in the matter of brotherly love. Paul had said in
Ephesians 3 v 19 that the love of Christ passes knowledge –
it is unsearchable. It is inexhaustible. And this is the kind of
brotherly love that we are to show. Perhaps we have only begun to
scratch the surface in the showing of brotherly love, my
friends!

A heathen called Lucian watched some Christian believers
around about the same time as Tertullian. He said this

“It is incredible to see the fervour with which the
people of that religion help each other in their wants. They
spare nothing. Their first legislator (Meaning the Lord Jesus
Christ) has put it into their heads that they are all
brethren.”

How can we show much brotherly love in the fellowship?

Our love can deepen as we enter more willingly into the hurts
and joys of others.

Our love can grow in length as we forebear patiently with
others.

Our love can increase as we forgive more heartily and
genuinely.

We can love by going the second mile in practical things.

We can love by joining the hospitality rota and are prepared
to be put out for the sake of others.

Brotherly love won’t mind our routines and patterns of
life being disturbed so that we can respond to a brother or
sister’s need promptly.

Brotherly love will give time for reaching out into the
community. Your love is about to be tested within the week
– when there are evangelistic leaflets to be delivered
around the estate. Will you be taking a pile and putting them
through doors?

Brotherly love desires fellowship with others whenever there
is an opportunity for believers to come together – for
prayer in particular. Where are you brother – sister when
we meet as a church for prayer?

True brotherly love speaks well of other Christians at all
times and does not bring a reputation down.

Brotherly love checks on something that has been heard about
another Christian before spreading it around. Brotherly love
assumes the good until something is confirmed to the
contrary.

Brotherly love resists gossip and a party spirit when little
groups get together to share gripes and moans.

Brotherly love seeks to build others up and refuses to pull
them down.

There are so many ways that we can launch out as Christians
and wade into the depths of the ocean of God given Philadelphia
love. May we be such a people that know increasing love here in
the fellowship, and as it spreads wider and wider into the
community and beyond – to the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ the one who loved us unto death!